James Nyondo wants poll results nullified

President of the National Salvation Front (Nasaf) James Nyondo Tuesday cast his vote at Chitipa Central Constituency – where he was also contesting as parliamentarian – for the May 20 tripartite elections but quickly called on Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to nullify the results arguing they won’t be credible.

Nyondo, who sounded optimistic of winning the Chitipa Central parliamentary seat, said that the May 20 elections were marred by too many mishaps to be labelled credible.

“There has been a lot of unrest all over the country which shows that people are not happy. Many people have been disfranchised to vote because of so many problems on the part of MEC,” said Nyondo.

But he said that MEC was monitoring everything throughout the country, and that everything was under control.

“21 centres were affected by loss of voters list during transportation. Some have been reprinted and have been sent to the affected locations,” Mbendera said Tuesday afternoon.

Irate voters the same Tuesday afternoon torched a house set to be a polling station for “waiting too long for the station to open.”

The problem of delaying was also evident in most parts of the country. MEC gave an allowance of up to 9 pm from the set6 pm for the polling station affected so that people could have ample time to vote.

The Malawi Civil Society Grand Coalition said it “fears the irregularities could precipitate violence such as riots in major urban areas.”

Nyondo who also told Nyasa Times that he doesn’t think he will become “Malawi’s next leader” but “a parliamentarian” pledged to transform Chitipa into a hub of the Malawi economy.

“Chitipa is an important agricultural area in Malawi. I want to help in the building of factories and industries so that the agricultural produce must be processed within the district,” said Nyondo.

Meanwhile, several of Malawi’s local radio stations have started releasing some unofficial results. Counting is expecting to continue up to the wee hours of Wednesday.

Malawi went to the first tripartite polls Tuesday in which the citizenry voted for ward councillors, Members of Parliament (MP) and the President at a go.